


Much Less Than The Lie

by Drakey



Series: Truth [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Anakin Skywalker Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Consequences, Gen, Honesty, I don't owe anyone any diacritics 'cause they're hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:33:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23627737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drakey/pseuds/Drakey
Summary: After the Battle of Geonosis, Mace Windu gave Anakin Skywalker a piece of advice: "The Dark Side lies." Three years later, Anakin can't get that advice out of his head after Darth Sidious offers to help him save Padme. The truth just might save lives, but it might break the Jedi Order, too.Part 1 of a series where Anakin sees through Sidious' lies, thereby saving everyone a lot of trouble and launching a very fluffy AU
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Sheev Palpatine & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Truth [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700803
Comments: 11
Kudos: 224





	Much Less Than The Lie

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I wrote this over a few days after watching all of Star Wars with my mom. Star Wars gets pretty dark in places, and I wanted to make a happier, brighter, somewhat fluffy AU where, by being less of a dipshit, Anakin makes things a lot better, and by being generally supportive, the Jedi also make things a lot better. You can expect this series to gradually gain short fics as the urge strikes me. I'll go into the interim between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, all the way through the original trilogy, and probably into the sequel... set of three movies that ostensibly go together even though they have the narrative cohesion of a story told by eight drunken toddlers.
> 
> I intend to cover various stories, and I know that I'll be writing multiple ships: Anakin/Padme, Luke/Ezra, and Finn/Poe are three that I know I want to do. I'll be hitting multiple characters, too. Expect lots of Ahsoka, some Quinlan vos, some Thrawn, a whole shit-ton of Obi-Wan getting to be happy, and even some Maul and Sidious.

"Master," Anakin muttered, "who do you think the Sith influencing the Senate is?"

Obi-Wan turned to regard Anakin. Anakin winced. The medical droid connecting his fresh stump to a prosthetic was very good at its job, but it could only do so much for the pain. The light dendritic burns across his torso were definitely going to scar, as were the myriad other little injuries he'd suffered over the last day. Dooku had really taken the cake with the dismemberment, though.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan began, but before he could finish whatever he was saying, another voice cut in.

"There may well be a Sith Lord in the Senate," Master Windu admitted from where he was getting a nasty blaster burn treated across the medbay, "but you can't be sure of that on Dooku's words, young Skywalker. The Dark Side lies. When the Dark Side, or the Sith, tell you something, it's always because they want something from you, and it's never the whole story. If Dooku tells you that the sky on Coruscant is full of ships, look up. If he tells you that your lightsaber has only one blade, turn it on. If he tells you that Jakku is out of the way, check a hyperlane map. And if he tells you there's a Sith Lord in the Senate, ask yourself what he gets out of your believing it."

Obi-Wan frowned at the interruption. Master Windu had been grazed by a starfighter cannon. His injury was a matter of sheerest chance, which terrified Anakin: a step to the left, and Windu would have died, a step to the right and he would have left Geonosis completely unhurt.

"Shouldn't we check, though?" Obi-Wan asked, echoing Anakin's thoughts on the matter.

"Of course we should," Master Windu said. "Sometimes, the Dark Side doesn't lie. Sometimes, it tells you the truth when it's the wrong time for you to know, when it will hurt you most, or when it will hurt other people for you to know. The Dark Side is all about getting what you want, and Dark Siders never tell you anything without a reason. I think it's awfully convenient how much of what's happened today has been because of people learning the truth at just the right time."

"You suspect we've been manipulated," Obi-Wan said.

Master Windu nodded. "We were manipulated into starting a war over you, Kenobi."

+-+

Three years later, Windu's admission buzzed in Anakin's head as he walked into the Jedi Temple. Anakin was trembling, and thinking about lies and truth. He was more afraid of what Master Windu would say to the truth than he was of Palpatine, and that... probably wasn't good.

So he thought.

What did Anakin know? Palpatine had revealed himself to be the Sith Lord. Padme was pregnant. Anakin had been having visions of Padme dying in childbirth. Palpatine knew about Padme. Palpatine could save her. Palpatine was the only one who could save her.

But why? Anakin asked himself. _"The Dark Side is all about getting what you want, and Dark Siders never tell you anything without a reason."_ Master Windu's words rattled around in his head.

Well, the benefit to Palpatine was obvious. He wanted Anakin's loyalty, and his power and ability to save Padme were a powerful lure. What had he told Anakin? That he knew about Padme, and that he could save her. That it was...

"'Only through me,'" Anakin muttered shakily, turning over the revelation for the eighth time, "'can you achieve a power greater than any Jedi. Learn to use the Dark Side of the Force, and you will be able to save your wife from certain death.'" Anakin frowned, and he quietly erased the idea that Palpatine was the only one who could save Padme. In fact, it had seemed more as though Palapatine intended for Anakin to save Padme himself. Why would the Dark Side make it easier for him to save her? 

"Kriffing Sith lies," Anakin growled irritably. Obi-Wan had always despaired at Anakin's ability with politics, specifically because a politician's lies were usually perfectly true. They were just the truth in whatever way would make you act they way they wanted. Anakin always had trouble with that. He stepped into the hangar where one of the younglings had seen Master Windu going with a few other Councilors. "Master Windu," he said. "I must talk with you."

Windu turned for a moment, then started towards a ship, forcing Anakin to keep pace with him. Anakin was still trembling. "Skywalker. We just received word that Obi-Wan has destroyed General Grievous. We're on our way to make sure the chancellor returns emergency powers back to the senate."

Anakin took in a long breath. Windu stared at him, coming to a slow stop. Anakin closed his eyes. "He won't give up his power. I've just learned a terrible truth." He shook his head. He could feel Windu's eyes on him. "I've been manipulated, Master Windu." He felt his voice crack. "I don't know what's true anymore, except... Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord."

"A _Sith Lord?"_ Windu snapped.

Anakin nodded. "Yes. The one we've been looking for," he said. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at his feet. He could only imagine growing up in the temple, with Windu's disapproval waiting around every corner.

"How do you know this?" Windu asked.

"Chancellor Palpatine is the one who's been manipulating me. I think. He knows the ways of the Force. He's been trained to use the Dark Side."

"How much are you sure of?" Windu asked.

"That he's a Sith Lord," Anakin said. "The rest... I need help, Master Windu." The confession stung and prickled. He was about to make it worse. "I think he wants me to betray the Jedi. He had... a pretty compelling argument."

Windu's hand drifted towards his lightsaber. Anakin grabbed his own, and before Windu could actually draw on him, he hurled the saber away. It skidded and bounced across the hangar floor. Everyone in the room turned to stare at him. "'Sometimes, the Dark Side doesn't lie. Sometimes, it tells you the truth when it's the wrong time for you to know, when it will hurt you most, or when it will hurt other people for you to know,'" Anakin quoted. "Palpatine told me the truth about me, and it was a truth nobody else knew."

"What truth?" Windu asked. "Exactly," he added.

"His exact words were," Anakin squeezed his eyes shut and recited: "'Only through me can you achieve a power greater than any Jedi. Learn to use the Dark Side of the Force, and you will be able to save your wife from certain death.'"

Anakin could feel Windu's confusion, and then understanding, shock, and outrage.

"You had better tell us more before we go," Master Fisto said, stepping up next to Windu.

Anakin nodded. When he spoke, his voice broke, and he had to restart. "I tried... I tried speaking to Master Yoda about it a while ago. I started having... dreams. Right after the battle here. After I killed Dooku." He cringed. "I shouldn't have killed Dooku. He was a prisoner. But Palpatine said he was too dangerous to be left alive, so I just... did what he said."

"Focus, Skywalker," Windu prompted.

Anakin breathed steadily. "The dreams. They were... Padme. Senator Amidala. Dying in childbirth."

"You're the father," Master Tiin guessed. A fair small crowd had gathered around him by now.

Anakin nodded. "I knew what I was doing was against the Code. It was right after Geonosis. I... I fell in love. We married, and we kept it secret," his voice broke again. "But now it's all falling apart. I can't lose her, Master Windu. I can't lose her, but I can't let him win." He reached out and caught the front of Master Windu's robes in tight fists, leaning on the other man.

"You won't lose her, Skywalker," Master Fisto said. Windu shot a stern look to the side, but Master Fisto was already soothing Anakin's hands open. "We'll send you with a team to and get her. Bring her back here. She'll be protected, and she'll have the best medical care in the galaxy."

"Fisto," Windu hissed, but Fisto glared at him.

"He loves her. I can feel it." Fisto extended one hand, and Anakin's lightsaber flew to him. He handed it back to Anakin. "We'll discuss what happens next after everyone is safe. A Sith Lord and the safety of a senator are more important than an internal conduct violation, no matter how severe the infraction."

Windu deflated. "We don't have time to debate this. Skywalker, go to the Council Chamber and wait there. Your... wife... will be brought to you."

"No," Anakin said. "If I go with the team that gets her, I can get her to come along faster, and I can protect her."

"Wait here, then," Fisto said, "and we'll send them to pick you up."

Anakin swallowed a plethora of angry replies. Instead, he nodded.

+-+

Padme paced back and forth across the Council Chamber. Anakin watched her steadily from his usual seat. She was as beautiful as ever, even confused and terrified under the worried scrutiny and half-paranoid protection of half a dozen strange Jedi, even aching and restless and slightly ill from her pregnancy, even with her husband brooding silently in the one place where she surely still believed she could least afford to acknowledge him.

"Who figured it out?" Padme asked.

Or maybe his wife was just an intuitive, deductive, and all-around intelligent bastion of sensibility. "Nobody," Anakin said. "I told Master Windu myself while I was convincing him to arrest Chancellor Palpatine."

Padme froze. "Arrest..." she began, speaking very slowly.

"Chancellor Palpatine," Master Windu said, stepping into the Council Chamber. "He resisted arrest, obviously. I had no choice but to kill him."

"Kill him?" Padme cried. Anakin flinched. He'd hoped to be able to learn more of what Palpatine knew. But then, that was exactly what Palpatine wanted, wasn't it?

"He tried to kill me, first," Windu said, sounding almost childish. "Specifically, with a red-bladed lightsaber and Force lightning." Windu walked over to his own seat and eased himself into it as though he was, for once, feeling every one of his many years. "He killed Agen Kolar, Kit Fisto, and Saesee Tiin. I found plenty of incriminating evidence in his office once I looked around with the Force. He was running both sides of the war, the slimy sithspawn. I've already sent someone to arrest the remaining Separatist leadership on Mustafar, which is apparently where he secreted them away to. This war is now all but over. And the Council is short three members. I'm calling in the remainder. We have to sort out what to do with you now. Skywalker..." Windu sighed. "I need your lightsaber."

Anakin pulled the weapon from his belt again and Windu took it with the Force. His exhausted face seemed to have been aged ten years by the confrontation with Palpatine. Windu pressed the heel of the saber against his forehead, leaning on it like a pillar, and breathed deep. 

"Skywalker," he said, " I'm sorry. You have to know I never wanted you trained."

"Because you thought I would fall," Anakin said.

"That," Windu acknowledged, "but also this. You spent nine years in the world, you never learned the Code as a child... expecting you to follow it was risky. I thought you would fall, and I knew that if you didn't, you would suffer."

Anakin looked around the Chamber at all the empty chairs. At three that would never be filled. Not by the people who belonged in them. "I think I'm through suffering," he said.

"Never truly finished, suffering is," Master Yoda's voice interrupted. His hologram had appeared in his chair as Anakin spoke. Moments later, Obi-Wan appeared, looking very much worse for wear. Ki Adi Mundi and Shaak Ti appeared almost simultaneously. Anakin flinched at the sight of the Togruta master. He would have to find Ahsoka. At least he could go and find Ahsoka.

The Council appeared, all in hologram, and Shaak Ti looked around. "Where-"

"Masters Kolar, Fisto, and Tiin are dead," Windu said. He caught them up on what had happened with Palpatine. The tale was thrilling, if tragic. Palpatine had, apparently, been a vicious and extremely skilled opponent, dispatching three Jedi Councilors with ease even while battling Windu. Only Vapaad had saved the Master, a fact he made abundantly clear.

Windu danced around the subject of Anakin's evidence, though. He laid out who had told him, and the proof he'd found in Palpatine's office to inform the Senate, and the arrests he'd made on the way out: Palpatine's closest advisors, arrested en masse as a precaution, a dangerous further step towards authoritarianism. The last step the Republic would take, Anakin hoped.

Anakin squared his shoulders when Windu pointed to him. "Skywalker is the next thing on the agenda."

"Pleasing it is to hear of Anakin's role in ending this war," Yoda said, "but promotion to Master it will not earn him."

"That's not what he means, Master Yoda," Anakin said. Sobbed, nearly. Force, but he was afraid. Confused. "You have to expel me from the Order."

"What?" Obi-Wan stared around at the other Masters. "Anakin, what are you talking about?"

"I've broken the Code, and I don't mean to stop," Anakin said.

Yoda's eyes drifted to Padme. "Solved, then, the mystery of Senator Amidala's presence is."

The other Councilors took a moment to absorb Yoda's conclusion, and then Obi-Wan exclaimed, excited more than anything, "Anakin! You're going to be a father?"

Everyone stared at him. As devestating as the news should have been, Obi-Wan's tone had been almost delighted. Plo Koon coughed, quietly and pointedly. Obi-Wan's smile fell.

"Skywalker," Shaak Ti said, "is it true?"

"It is," Padme said. All eyes turned to her. Anakin knew that she had to be hurting by now, having stood for so long, but she certainly didn't show it. "Anakin and I have been married for three years now. He's been hurt by having to deceive you. Especially you, Obi-Wan."

"This is a serious violation," Stass Allie said.

"Is it?" Ki Adi Mundi's question silenced everyone. Anakin looked at the Cerean, then down to the floor. Of course. He should have gone to Mundi in the first place. The man was allowed not just one, but several wives, a concession to his species' dire reproductive imbalances. It was easy to forget, sometimes. "My situation is different, of course, but I have to wonder if we really must expel young Skywalker for this."

"Three years, Ki," Master Windu said.

"Troubling, the lie is. Fall apart it would have, and then where would you be?" Master Yoda gestured with his stick at Anakin, then at Padme. "Trained you already are, and in need of guidance. Alone with Palpatine often."

"I think he was manipulating me. I don't know how long." Anakin looked around the Council Chamber. All of the Masters fell into silence. Anakin stood and went to Padme. She turned to throw her arms over his shoulders."

"Ani, I'm scared," she whispered.

Anakin sighed. "I know. But... it's almost over."

"Padme," Obi-Wan said. Padme looked towards his hologram. He smiled gently. "Do you need to sit?"

"On... one of those chairs?" Padme looked warily at Master Kolar's vacant seat. Windu reached out with the Force and scooted the chair to her, and Anakin's to him. They eased down next to each other.

"We have no choice but to expel him," Eeth Koth said. "But Ki is right; the marriage itself is much less than the lie."

"I agree," Master Windu said. "The attachment could have been solved with meditation and counseling. The lie is egregious."

"Solved?" Anakin exclaimed. "You don't _solve_ someone falling in love!"

Obi-Wan squeezed his eyes shut. "I have to agree with the Council, Anakin. But I also think you're right. There's something very wrong with all of this." He ran his left hand through his hair. "We should be overjoyed that you've found a love great enough to commit your life to, even over the Order. We should be celebrating this new stage and what you accomplished as a Jedi, not panicking over a love affair and horrified by a lie." 

"Did Palpatine manipulate him into the affair?" Plo Koon asked.

Everyone fell silent again. Padme reached for Anakin's hand and caught it in a tight, tight grip. What if their marriage _was_ the end product of Palpatine's manipulations? Anakin looked at his wife, tried to think of his love for her as tainted and warped by such a truth, and cringed away from the thought. 

Finally, Yoda spoke up. "Master Windu, feel their love in the Force, can you?"

Windu took a deep, slightly shaky breath. Anakin squeezed Padme's hand as he felt the old Master probing at him in the Force.

"It's real," Master Windu declared. "However it started, it's real." Anakin and Padme both relaxed just a little.

"If Skywalker must leave the Order to be with his wife," Ki Adi Mundi said, "then upon my return to Coruscant, I believe I will turn in my lightsaber as well. I have a very large family, and I believe Skywalker may need the support, anyway."

"Many will leave the Order," Yoda said.

"Of course they will," Obi-Wan said. "Palpatine's war has almost broken us. He might have won if we hadn't acted in time. There are so few Jedi left, and so many of us are so broken. We need to rebuild."

"Nearly eight hundred years have I been a Jedi, and never have I seen so many of us touched by war. Always some there were, who took to battle. Crusaders, some Jedi have always been, but never all, never since the days of the Old Republic. Truly does Master Kenobi speak: nearly lost to Darth Sidious we did, and many Jedi, he has hurt. All Jedi, he has hurt. Heal the wounded we can, and comfort the deeper hurts, but deep runs the damage. The Jedi is the crystal of the Force. Cracked, we are. To build a lightsaber with a cracked crystal... foolish. If cut the crystal must be, then allow it we must, for when a crystal is not cut properly, shatter it does." Yoda leaned back in his chair. The other Jedi stared at him.

"Are you advocating the splitting of the Jedi Order?" Master Windu asked into the thick quiet that followed Yoda's speech.

"Advocate? No. Admit, I do. Join the Lost Twenty, many more will. Terrible has this war been, and made soldiers of us it has. Come home from war, not all soldiers do. Even Jedi. Help those who wish to leave, we must." Yoda turned to Anakin, then to Ki. "Keep your lightsabers, you should. Strange times ahead there will be."

"You're afraid we'll need them," Anakin said. He glanced out the window. He could see lights, and the tiny forms of speeders clustered around Palpatine's office.

"There is darkness in the galaxy," Obi-Wan said. "Maul is still unaccounted for, and any number of other threats might want to get their hands on a former Jedi. I agree with Master Yoda."

"Skywalker has been influenced by a Sith Lord," Windu said. He held out Anakin's lightsaber and waved it once for emphasis. "I can accept the others keeping theirs, but he doesn't get this back until we're sure it's safe."

"You know what Anakin's skills are," Plo Koon said. "If he falls, a lightsaber won't make much difference in how dangerous he is. Give the weapon back to him, Mace."

"Not until we've had time to discuss this in a full Council. I'm sorry. I don't use my privilege as Master of the Order often, but I'm using it now. None of you can feel how close he is to the Dark Side." Mace Windu put the lightsaber back under his robes. "We can't trust that Skywalker and the senator will be safe away from the temple tonight. You two will stay here until the council says it's safe. And when that happens, I may even return your weapon, Skywalker."

There was no murmur of assent. The magnitude of what was happening was more than a little difficult to grapple with; the war was as good as over, the Jedi Order seemed on the verge of splitting under the strain, Anakin was out, and the chancellor was dead. The Council slowly adjourned until just Master Windu was left. He stepped up to Anakin, offering a hand to Padme as he met the former Knight's eyes. 

Windu smiled sadly. "For what it's worth, Skywalker, you've done well today. I trust you more now than I did this morning." 

Anakin managed a grim smile of his own. "Master Windu, you didn't trust me at all this morning."

Windu waggled a hand in ambivalence. "I trusted you as far as I could throw you. Without the Force. Now I trust you as far as I can throw you _with_ the Force."

Padme opened her mouth to object, but Anakin shushed her. "That's actually a major improvement. Come on. Today has been awful, and I'm exhausted."

"I'll show you to where you're staying," Windu said.


End file.
